In my book there is no day when I don’t sit down to write but being human some days are better than others. However you try to be single minded - and I wrote of that yesterday –disappointments and outside influences can creep in. Today was one of those days exacerbated by the greyness of the weather. However, I managed an afternoon stink working on one of my current projects: a novel based on Monet and the French village where he spent his last years, Giverny. Yesterday was better, I wrote so much, and I felt productive. Tomorrow, I hope, will be good too.
As I often do on days like these I finally turned to reading. I picked out a book of poetry that has been knocking about this house for ages. I see it was once a library book that somehow never was returned. The poet’s name is David Holbrook and on re reading I feel strongly that anyone who hasn’t read him should do ASAP. He writes about the small things of life but gives them dignity. He writes about human love and human loss. The particular poem I loved, tonight was Reflections on a Book of Reproductions. In this poem he looks at how the Dutch Masters found meaning in e everyday things and events.
Well, that brings me to one of the points I make in my Unleash Your Imagination workshops. Material is all about you, you just have to look and listen. No need for exotic travel though for some it has its place more ‘the world in a grain of sand’ of William Blake. Monet used this approach. His paintings are of family friends and, above all, his beloved water lilies. As his sight got worse (cataract) he continued to paint but his work became more based on sensation and memory rather than observation. A retrospect e view while he still lived. Sensation and memory are very useful when you are writing…particularly poetry.
Signing off now and back to reading. It’s part of the writer’s job anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment